FIGURING IT OUT – AND MORE CURIOSITY ABOUT OWLS
Saturday, March 20, 2021 - daily column #6702
Given what a great meal that rabbit would be for any owl, I wanted to understand why he didn’t swoop down on such easy pickings. Owls don’t hoot when hunting. That makes sense: why warn your prey?
Owls hoot to mark territory and warn-off competing owls, and as a mating call.
In mid-March, that makes sense – because the owl needs to get busy making baby owls first, and bringing home a rabbit banquet can wait.
I’ll be watching and listening more closely for Mr. Owl.
p.s.: ye sterday wrapped up 18 years of Musing columns. Today starts another spring for another year, and to commence my 19th year of daily thoughts laid down here. From six readers originally, many more have come and gone – the current count is around 5,000. Today starts year 19. Reflecting on this daily habit that hasn’t quit, time flew and yet so much happened over this time. Friends come and go, people live and die, and the world keeps spinning with much understanding of how things work and not enough understanding about how people do. As I’ve said many times when readers have commented that something I wrote matters to them, impacts them, or lightens their load – I am thrilled every time I get notes like that, but that’s not why I write. I write to ‘figure-out me,’ and on any given day that might be deep and serious and another day, it might be child-like curiosity about the nocturnal lives of owls.